


Dreaming of Shadows

by Untrust_Us



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine, Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 09:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15215753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untrust_Us/pseuds/Untrust_Us
Summary: Snippets written for the Dreaming of Sunshine forum compiled in one place.ch 1 - Between the cracks of the world - Bijuu!Shikakoch 2 - A mother and her son, pt 1 and 2ch 3 - A poem on the shadow statech 4 - Kakashi on Life & Death





	1. Between the cracks of the world - Bijuu!Shikako

_...The concept of growth in the context of Shikako-as-biju is oh so intriguing yet terrifying…_

An infinite number of universes. A neverending multitude of worlds, only but the beat of a butterfly's wings out of phase. Now ask yourself this, what does a shadow care for the boundaries between dimensions?

Nothing.

The thing about shadows is that they are everywhere. In every little nook or cranny of the universe. No matter the smallest of insignificant rocks or the grandest of gestures, they all cast a shadow. What might never be quite understood however, is that the shadows at your feet holds no difference from the shadows of every other potential you. Though what you perceive changes based on the canvas of your own particular life, the shadows themselves are an impalpable connection just outside our reach. 

Once upon a time a little Nara experienced a moment as a star dreaming of a supernova. She then stared into the maws of annihilation and bid it to stay it's hand as love determinedly fought for her to return.

* * *

Once anew made flesh, she found temptation in the experimentation with chakra storage which would in the end stop her battered heart. And as the shadows themselves reached out and claimed her for their own, she gazed back into its eternity and found a piece of it beating in synch with the beat of her heart.

A beat matching the music that sang with the pulse of ever growing Life itself. An ever evolving song of the grandest complexity yet full of the most effortless ease imaginable.

Until finally she herself starts changing to match the rythm of joy and terror. An endless dance of light and shadows with a canvas stuck in our three dimensional world.

Yet even in a new form, she continues to remain herself. Dedicated to linger in the physical she creates spiritual anchors with seals and other ingenuity.

Nevertheless, her being keeps reaching further into the in between, where the intangible dwells.

* * *

 Shikako no longer casts a shadow of her own, she has instead become one with them. A part of that boundless shadow that other Shikakos would seek to know and interact with.

When a Nara interact with shadows they do so through a spiritual connection. What influence then could the touch of a living shadow of a biju have, as the other Shikako's tries to learn the way of shadows?


	2. A mother and her son, pt 1 and 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the future, the era of the Warring Villages has long since ended. The Nara Clan however prides themselves on their libraries and on keeping the legends of the past close to heart as they look into the future. A particular Deer-girl of the Clan is shrouded in great mystery...

The trees surrounding them and the stars above them were the only witnesses as the mother and her son coaxed embers into flames. Sparking a flickering dance of light and shadow in the meadow.

As they sat across each other, the mother couldn't help but imagine the man her son would one day become. She intimately knew that the responsibilities of being an heir would not always be easy even in this era of peace, yet she hoped he would come to see the quiet joy that it could also bring. That it had in the end brought her.

The world was changing and the Clan would have to change with it so as not to get left behind. The very idea of shinobi was turning into a noble ideal of the past, glorifying their bravery and sacrifice. Letting the rivers of grief and despair fade away from memory. The Nara had been meticulous about their records long before the founding of the Villages. Their libraries had continued to be their treasures and contained detailed recountings of victories and loss. Records that if known had the potential to rock the current era to the core. As such they were a blessing and a curse. For the Clan leadership not only had to know such secrets existed, they had the duty to study the details in order to make sure past tragedies didn't repeat themselves. They had to know that which could never be unlearnt. To know how we became who we are, in order to look towards the future.

Now, after swearing his oath and accepting the earrings, the time had come for her firstborn to start his journey. They both carry 'Shika' in their names and so they shall remember. 

* * *

 

You already know the wonders that have been achieved with chakra. The feats of engineering, the intricate and flexible ways sealing can aid a society for the better. Now, I want you to instead consider the ways these inventions could have been a disaster had someone with more malicious intent had control over them. It is enough to think about a small thing such as cameras and we can find historical records detailing how they were restricted from the public. The sharing of knowledge is preciously dependant upon trust. We must safeguard our era of peace and prosperity.

Enough about that. Let me instead tell you a story from the time leading up to the Last Great Shinobi War. When we fought for survival in bloody rivers and where our shadows were the only thing that stood between us and death itself. Where a desperate girl about the age you are now became one with the shadows herself. The story of your great great aunt Shikako, the Shikabane. A girl who saw the incoming threat long before any others and prepared.

We are still unsure exactly how she did it but perhaps it is for the best. What we know is that she was attempting to figure out the possibilities of chakra storage before it was anything but a pipedream. The very practices we use for our larger and more chakra demanding projects today is based on that same study. And yes, I know you're curious. I will find some copies of her original work for you to investigate. It's very interesting to see how she progressed from that first proposal. Ah, I've digressed…

This girl was very talented. You've heard of her both in and out of the village. Seen her praised and feared in various history books. What you need to understand is that she was not one single thing. She was a Nara with a goal and terrified of losing her loved ones. What would you be willing to do if put into that position? What would you give up of yourself?

Her sacrifice wasn't immediately noticed. She didn't display any of the warning signs for reaching too far into the black. No apparent loss of motivation or obvious withdrawal from those closest to her. Yet as she fought in the war of terrible monsters she survived the impossible again and again. She was stabbed in the heart yet lived. She managed to describe the first shadow prostheses when her twin lost one of his arms. A Hyuga is noted to have described her as terrifying as seen through his byakugan when she turned into shadows during a spar. And when her body in the end gave out, a shadow shaped as person remained.

It has been speculated along the lines that she physically entered the black yet retained her spiritual connection to the living by blending natural energy. She had trained in the Fire Temple and learnt more of their sage art than any other Nara and it is still one of the mysteries. I'll make sure to give you the papers she wrote after her training in the monastery. Her thoughts on shadows of different elements and the spirituality of non-living entities are simply fascinating.

What must never be forgotten is that she was a person worthy of respect. A Nara just as much as you and I. And one of the secrets you will be the keeper of is that she remains so even today. She yet lingers.

_Would you like to meet her?_


	3. A poem on the shadow state

_Who is to say I am the reflection?_

_Am I only worth mentioning in the silence of the night_

_Is my perspective not enough to present a reality of itself?_

_Will I forever remain less, always part of your Shadow State?_

_As you continuously blaze your lanterns light_

_Leaving a trail of emptiness in your wake_

_As I lie in wait_

* * *

_What am I?_

_As I share my heart as well my darkened soul_

_My desolate existence lurks in the remnant of a previous life_

_Know that I remain with you_

_Together we fuse as one_

_A shared fate captured in the Eighth Gate_

_Know that you are not alone_

_A silent Shadow in the night_

* * *

_But know this_

_Gelel did more for me than you_

_And though Death might haunt you_

_I am already its servant_

_Use the Stone as you will_

**_I exist_ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am basically a bit stuck over how natural chakra was described as being affected by the living and becoming sentient. I've also become a bit obsessed over spiritual effects of shadows and how you can lose parts of yourself that lurks in the shadows. Can shadows themselves become alive without influence? Or could a chakra entity attach itself to shadows a bit like how Shikako speculated about the possibility of infusing shadows with aspects of elements after her training at the temple. 
> 
> Is the Nara forest an alive chakra infused shadow entity?(but of course asleep)? And what if Shikako’s reincarnation is only a symptom of something else?


	4. Kakashi on Life & Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got Kakashi feels that won't let go of me. He is probably highly aware of his own decline and has been for quite some time before Shikako et all does their thing.  
> Imagine his hyper ninja paranoia in weakened and deteriorating state which is only kicked up another notch from being responsible for highly sensitive baby-ninjas with targets on their backs, that _he-has-to-keep-safe_ but _he-brings-danger-to-those-he-loves_.

Once again he wakes up to the crips smell of disinfection and old sickness that defines the Konoha hospital. Here is one of the few places where the famed Hatake nose becomes a direct disadvantage to his general sense of his surroundings, since all the necessary identifiers gets shrouded by the overarching wrongness that clings to every corner and muffles what even horrifying week old rot may not.

_Tenzo was the one to truly take action on account of the slow but sure deterioration of his capabilities. The tree sprout that was torn away from the dark roots and later planted into the fertile shadows beneath the leaves, had always focused to much on the being behind the Hound that saved him. As the well meaning Cat forcefully ripped the Mask away he didn't pause to consider that there wasn't anything left behind it, only the thin facsimile of a made up boy long since forgotten at a time where he found his tattered family legacy buried in the gut of the one who last wielded it._

Even without his keen sense of smell Kakashi knows with a quick glance around his room that nurses and doctors has been in and out of his space and it always brings into focus the highly useful but sometimes incredibly distracting sense of paranoia. He spots a forgotten coffee mug and a crinkled paper he assumes to be a part of the heavily redacted medical file that records his weakness. This obvious intrusion of a highly (paranoid and injured) respectable ninja is now a common occurrence, despite there being a documented fact that he has dispatched multiple unknowns while unconscious, a well established instinct from his youthful (though not YOUTH-ful) days of endless bloodshed and endless moments of silent lightning in the dark.

He supposes even the medical ninja has started to write him off. Soon one of his multitude of enemies will take advantage of his regular hospitalization and someone will have to deal with the resulting corpses afterwards. (PleaseNotHisStudents)

* * *

 

_Gai always Knew. What Gai knew exactly is uncertain but it is certain that he knew. One of Pakkun’s schemes might have been involved._

The only thing keeping him in the hospital bed is the knowledge that the Slug Princess will track him down and make the inevitable check-up infinitely more uncomfortable than the last one where he dragged himself home and almost got his motivated little shadow into this mess. He knows he will not undergo the surgery. He has long since acknowledged Obitos hidden and final gift.

_After his decline becomes more obvious after forcefully being stranded in the sunshine, there also is the implied duty of passing on his famed but soon to be lost knowledge to the next generation. As he has already made it very clear that he won't be contributing to the gene pool there is only the option of accepting pre-approved children of peace. Kakashi knows he should be glad that his teachers firm belief that children should be able to be children is reality but it doesn't make up for the fact that he has no idea how to relate to any of the supposed teams they send him. Even the clumsy and dreaming (and beyond wise) Obito had a sense of certain realities and responsibilities of being a ninja. Every single one of the teams that are foisted upon him gets a clear fail. What is the Sandaime thinking?_

Kakashi may be cursed to never be able to see his students grow into themselves but he damned well will spend his every last breath cramming his cute students available to him full of everything that is necessary to keep them safe. To keep them alive. And if Jiraiya isn't keeping doing the same to Naruto there is no force in existance to keep him from shredding the Toad Sage to pieces even from the pure world.

_Who gave him this team? Why did they give him the most precious ones to the One-who-is-doomed-to-watch-those-he-cares-about-die? Don't they know he is the worst person to teach the last-and-very-unstable-Uchiha, the shining reflection of his teacher that he kept away from to save him from his cursed affection and the intensely focused shadow that sees through his masks into the emptiness beyond._

His time-limit is set. Will his cute team survive his proximity or will he have to see these ones bleed out as well before he draws his last breath?

_(PleaseSpareThem)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not too sure about this one but it was the first one I dared to post on the recursive thread so I feel it deserves to live on.


End file.
